Customer Reviews

Key

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's funny how the littlest things can easily lead to something big. All it took was a picture of Trey Azagthoth wearing a Nocturnus t-shirt inside Morbid Angel's "Gateways to Annihilation" to spark my interest in this band. I'm always on the lookout for new bands, and seeing how Trey is one of my favorite guitarists of all time and Gateways is one of my favorite albums of all time, I definately decided to check them out. And wow, I'm glad I did.

After reading up on the band a little bit I realized that they were revolutionary in that they were one of, if not THE first death metal band to incorporate keyboards to a main part of their sound. What also made them stand out were their lyrical themes, which were more space and sci-fi focused rather than the outright satanism/gore found in most early DM bands (although "The Key" has its share of that too, just in far less amounts and in a sci-fi way). All of this seemed interesting, but I wasn't expecting to be impressed by them musically. I was expecting just plain typical death metal with keyboards backing it up. But I was happily surprised when "Lake of Fire" came on.... the keyboards were used very well to add a cosmic feel to the album, the riffs were great, the production was excellent (except for one little problem, its hard to hear the bass drums and as a result the drumming sounds worse than it actually is), and it just had that awesome "old-school DM" feel to it.

What really took me by surprise, however, was the incredible guitar playing. Guitarists Mike Davis and Sean McNenney shred non-stop throughout the album. The guitar solos are amazing, and guess what? They are all over the place. Ive never heard a death metal album with so many guitar solos.... these guys are insane. This is some good guitar playing, anyone who likes great guitar playing should hear this album.

This album was released in 1991 and bestowed with great critical response when it came out, and it sold 50,000 copies, and excellent number especially for a debut. Their high status in the DM scene should have been secure, but unfortunately soon after their excellent 2nd album "Thresholds", the band broke up and they were pretty much forgotten about, ultimately never gaining the amount of respect they deserved. They reformed in 2000 however, and realeased Ethereal Tomb (which I have yet to hear), but unfortunately they broke up yet again. This time for good.

"The Key" is essential classic death metal. Because of their very early breakup, they aren't as well known as they should be, but if you are a fan of DM and especially old school DM, or awesome guitar playing as well, you should check this album out immediately.

Standout tracks: Lake of Fire, Standing in Blood, Andromeda Strain

Before I go off reviewing which is what I believe, to be the perfect album in parallel to Morbid Angel's "Altars of Madness," I'll share a little history with you about my first encounter with this album and Nocturnus.

My first encounter with Nocturnus was some years back on a muggy November afternoon after coming home from work and I look in the mailbox, I see a media package containing the copy of Nocturnus's "Ethereal Tomb," which I ordered about a week prior. I opened the package and put the CD into my CD player, I listened to about 2-3 songs and while I thought the music was decent, I felt the overall sound was too dreary for me, a guy who tends to like his death metal more on the thrashy and aggressive side. Fast forward about 8-9 days and the copy of Nocturnus's "The Key" arrives. Because of my past experience with "Ethereal Tomb," I didn't have high expectations for "The Key," but after I put it in my CD player, I was completely floored by how awesome the album was; so much so, I listened to the whole thing four times that evening and several dozen times more as the years progressed.

"The Key" is a death metal fan's dream come true. It was innovative for its time (back in 1990), had stellar musicianship, had catchy song structures, and had solid production to bolster the fine sound of the instruments and vocals at play.

INNOVATION

"The Key" was innovative because prior to this album, virtually no death metal bands used keyboards as a "full time instrument," but only for intros and outros of songs. The keyboards themselves are used pretty differently than what most of you would be familiar with because instead of it being used in a more classical fashion like that featured in much more popular bands like Dream Theater and Children of Bodom, Louis Panzer uses the keys to create a dark ambient sound-scape to supplement the thrash-based guitar riffs and solos, along with creating sound effects akin to alien spaceships and futuristic computers. Personally, I think the best keyboard work has to be the keyboard melody featured at the 3:04 mark on the song "Neolithic" because it's so memorable and has such a creepy yet ethereal feeling to it; it wouldn't be out-of-place if it were featured in the Doomed Megalopolis soundtrack. Another innovative feature of "The Key" is that it was probably the first death metal album to feature a unique fusion of satanic/occult themes and sci-fi themes in their lyrics, which was a really refreshing break from the cool but typical gore and satanic lyrics. Drummer and vocalist Mike Browning wrote the songs that were strictly occult while lead guitarist Mike David co-wrote with Browning the songs with occult and sci-fi in them. The lyrics are quite insane because it's not everyday that you come across a death metal song ("Destroying the Manger") which focuses on going back in time through a time machine to murder Christ moments after his birth.

STELLAR MUSICIANSHIP

One of the strongest parts of "The Key" is the great musicianship, especially with the guitars. Mike Davis and Sean McNennery (especially Davis) crank out some of the best and most unique riffs and solos because unlike the modern tech-death scene that constantly dishes out wanky guitar solos with cookie-cutter riffs, Davis and McNennery blast out ear-grabbing tech-thrash riffs not very dissimilar to early Coroner and to supplement them, they (especially Davis) churn out sporadic and short yet very technical solos in the songs and instead of them being in the designated solo spot (usually after the second verse), they pop up everywhere in the song. The best example of this would be for the opening song "Lake of Fire." As stated before, most of the solos are short, but they're really impressive explosions of notes that don't overpower the riffs. THIS is how you make great technical death metal; by first writing great riffs then writing impressive guitar solos to supplement them. Out of the two axemen in this album's lineup, Davis is certainly the best because he unleashes the most solos and tends to have the flashiest between the two. Some of the more die hard Morbid Angel fans have complained that Mike Browning doesn't have the technical mastery of Pete Sandoval, but I don't really care because Browning's drumming is really well done here and I was pleased with his performance, also taking into account that he had to growl for this album as well (drummers usually don't do vocals in bands). The only thing that some people may complain about is that the bass in this album is nearly impossible to hear, but I don't really mind because the music sounds perfect as it is. Also, Browning himself stated that on the morning the band had to go to Morrisound to record "The Key," bassist Jeff Estes was really drunk and couldn't play, so Davis had to play the bass. Browning's vocals fit this album like a glove because instead of using the typical "Cookie Monster vocals," he opts for a more sinister raspy growl somewhat reminiscent to David Vincent's vocals in "Altars of Madness." The raspiness of the growls perfectly accentuates the thrash-based death metal sound.

GREAT SONG STRUCTURES

The songs in "The Key" in a technical sense, are progressive in the sense that the song structures don't really repeat as the song moves along, but sounds nothing like your typical progressive metal album because while typical prog-metal tends to have a more bright and optimistic atmosphere to them, Nocturnus's "The Key" is a monstrous flesh-eating cyborg. While the songs are progressive for the above reasons, the riffs themselves have just the right balance of complexity and simplicity to them without going overboard in complexity as to loose memorability or have too much simplicity in them to make them dull. Concerning the guitar riffs and solos, they share almost equal space in the songs without sounding at all overly flashy. The construction of the songs as stated before, makes them really unique and virtually none of the newer tech-death bands have tried to copy Nocturnus's unique style of playing.

PRODUCTION

Tom Morris at the godly Morrisound Studio did a fantastic job engineering this album because everything (minus the bass) is mixed perfectly so that you can hear everything without one instrument overpowering another. The mixing of the guitars is especially superb because they sound gritty and sharp without sounding at all like the "white noise" you'd usually hear on an early 90's Norwegian black metal album (that's not a bad thing at all, just not really fit for death metal), the riffs and solos come in perfectly clear with the desired "harshness" old school death metal fans like myself salivate over. The keyboards are perfectly mixed because they do what they're supposed to do in a metal album, supplement the guitars, NOT overtake them. In most cases, when I'm listening to a metal album, the thing I want to hear the most is the guitars, and thankfully, Tom Morris kept this in mind when mixing this godly album.

Finally, Dan Seagrave's album art for "The Key" is not only really amazing with how detailed it's portrayed, but how fitting it is for the music. You can't beat an evil droid holding a disk with the pentagram and lightning bolt, using it to access possibly some high-tech occult weaponry. I might also add that the painting itself was really inviting for a potential listener because cover art with such a dark and evil feeling to it should get any respectable metal head to purchase it and bang their heads ferociously to the godly music.

If you want a metal album that will give you some fantastic, headbanging bliss all while dishing out fantastic musicianship and unique themes and song structures, then buy "The Key" now!!

Brutal all the way to the end......this is the way Nocturnus should sound...this falls into the classic Death Metal ordinance...with fast drums and killer riffs and even some good use of keyboards this album has it all....and should fit very properly into any Death head's collection. Classic absolutely classic!

I loved this as a teenager. Very happy to have it again on cd this time. Great album for its time.

This album is almost like Morbid Angel's Altars Of Madness with sci-fi keyboards. It is easy to listen to and the songs are catchy. The vocals are similar to Kreator's vocals soundwise, but not as brutal.
Overall, this is great music that you'll come back again and again to listen to. It's a classic, despite what anyone says about this album. It's stands on its own plain, in its own world, and cannot be matched.
I give it 5 stars because of the excellent artwork, the good use of keyboards intergrated into death metal, and for being a groundbreaking album at the time of its release, and also for having solid catchy songs that you'll never forget.


Classic !!!

I remember the first time I heard these guys. It was back in the late 80's on a Earache/Combat compilation. Admist all the speed death metal came Nocturnus "BC/AD" with its thick synth opening and grinding metal sound. It would be years before I heard anything as grinding and melodic as this band. This album is like "BC/AD" from start to finish. Definitely a must have!

This album is really great!! Brutal songs with great keyboards and very good guitarsolos. A "must have" for serious death metal fans!

This is original death metal with keyboards all along the songs. I am not crazy about this band but this is a different work, recommended for death metal collectors.

I've had this album for quite a while thanks to the magic of cd burners, and my conclusion says that this album is indeed a fantastic listen. It's very hard to find as a cd itself, but there is nothing like the original copy. If you don't want to spend that much money and just want to have it without the case, the cd, or the luxury of being able to listen to it anywhere without the volume of the record seem lower than usual, The Key is avaible on iTunes.

This is a must for all people who like death metal. In addition, the album is actually thought to be a concept album. It's about someone or something that goes back in time to kill Jesus Christ so that Christianity would never spread (or possibly even never exist). I am not sure if it is actually a concept album, but I am just saying what I heard. If it's not true, oh well. The lyrics still are very cool, they go with the music.

The Key would be your mostly standard death metal if it weren't for the keyboards. But the keyboard adds another dimesion to the music. Trippy passages at the beggining usually set the tone, but in addition, little nuances and wrinkles throughough the album really elevate this album to something higher. For the rest, it may be standard death metal, but that's a good thing. It's all you want in a death metal album (cookie-cutter death metal is different, a negative way). Catchy blazing riffs, amazing solos, raspy vocals, and little things done with the instruments that really make the metal part a great listen. Tempo changes as well, great death metal right here. The Key is a fascinating, entertaing death metal listen.

This is the only Nocturnus album I got, and I am really excited to hear The Tomb one (Whatever it is called), which is said to include more atmosphere, which I love more in death metal than speed. Still though, speed in death metal is great when paired up with music that grabs you, and The Key has it. If you have iTunes, hook it up pronto.

9.5/10

How do you like your Satanism? Half-baked and cartoon-ish, like Slayer? Space cadet style, praising the Ancient Ones like Morbid Angel? Perhaps you prefer the straight-for-the-throat style of Glen Benton and Deicide. Well guess what? You can get all three in one nice, neat little package. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you 'The Key'.

But then, how do you like your Death Metal? Well, if you are a Morbid Angel fan and you do not have this, track it down immediately. It is like listening to Morbid Angel on a Walkman while riding a roller coaster. Before Nocturnus, drummer/vocalist Mike Browning was a member of Morbid Angel, and is at least as deranged as Trey Azagthoth, if not more so, but more of that later. As a drummer, he rivals Pete Sandoval for technicality, speed and brutality. However, Nocturnus live would have been interesting, because it is hard to believe Browning could keep up the tempo and sing at the same time.

Nocturnus were considered revolutionary at the time this album was recorded. Aside from being one of the heaviest and most technical bands around, they added keyboards to their musical typhoon. While such a thing may seem trivial now, it was big news in 1990. Louis Panzer's keyboards added a space rock/sci-fi feel to the technical death blasts. While Death Metal bands had used keyboards in the studio before, Nocturnus was first to make them an integral part of the band. "BC/AD" and "Droid Sector" made good use of effects in their introductions, but the standout track, as far as keyboards go, is "Lake Of Fire". A UFO-type oscillating wail underpins the entire song, with drums and guitars playing off and weaving around it.

If that sounds like your cup of tea, just hold off for a moment. Do you think you can handle the warped world of Mike Browning's lyrics? The main reason for this band not hitting the Death Metal big time was the subject matter of the songs. And here are the shades of Satanism. First, Slayer: "Destroying The Manger" is all about destroying Christ as a child, by um... building a time machine, and zapping back to 0 A.D. "Droid Sector" is equally as adolescent. Shades of Morbid Angel? "Empire Of The Sands" and "Lake Of Fire" have a Sumerian feel to them, and touch on elemental themes. And "BC/AD", "Visions From Beyond The Grave" and "Standing In Blood" are straight from the Deicide school of eviler-than-thou theology.

Unfortunately, this band lost it in a big way. Instead of maturing, the next album 'Thresholds' was even sillier thematically, which even the semi-revolutionary ultra-technical approach to Death Metal could not compensate for. 'The Key' could almost be considered in the league of 'Altars Of Madness', but instead of a launching point for a strong career, it was a high point before obscurity.